Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 70,589Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14297477

BETHLEHEM STEEL CORP.

Event
LOADING, CRANE HOOK, LOSS OF BLOOD, UNSECURED, WORK RULES, SUSPENDED LOAD, LACERATION, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, LEG
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Accident-driven
Activity number
#104425566
Employer profile
BETHLEHEM STEEL CORP.
Summary number
14297477
Report ID
352430

Event description

Employee killed when falling crane load lacerates leg

Investigation abstract

At 1:45 p.m. on March 31, 1989, Employee #1, a material handler, was assisting i n loading a 40 ft flatbed truck. He was supposed to position himself away from t he loading area until the material had been lowered to within a few inches of th e loader; he was then to come in and guide the load into position, placing woode n chocks between each lift. Employee #1 was walking toward the crane as it was c oming in with a load when one of the four load handling hooks disengaged, causin g the load to swing and fall. It struck Employee #1 on the rear of his right leg , resulting in a severe laceration and loss of blood. He was killed.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 57 Male

    Nature of injury
    Cut/Laceration (7)
    Part of body
    LEGS (16)
    Accident type
    STRUCK BY (1)
    Source of injury
    MATERIALS HANDLG EQ. (27)
    Occupation
    Freight, stock and material handlers, n.e.c. (883)
    Human factor
    MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
    Environmental factor
    OVERHEAD MOVING/FALLING OBJ AC (6)
    Task assigned
    Task regularly assigned (1)

Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.